By Daniel Massey and Brendan Browne
Neighbors brought flowers and spun tales of memorable July 4th block parties as they set up impromptu memorials outside John Gotti’s Ozone Park social club and Howard Beach home Tuesday to mourn the death of the flamboyant mob boss.
Gotti, the most notorious mobster in the last quarter century and a resident of Howard Beach, died Monday in a Missouri prison hospital from throat cancer while serving a life sentence for murder and racketeering. The former head of the Gambino crime family was 61.
On Tuesday morning, visitors paid their respects to the Gotti family at the Bergin Hunt & Fish Club on 101st Avenue in Ozone Park, where he ran his operations. Gotti’s brother, Richard, stood in front of the club, kissing guests on both cheeks and accepting their condolences.
After emerging from the club, visitors wagged their fingers to indicate they were not interested in talking to reporters.
Passersby left flowers and candles near the club’s doorstep, pausing in prayer before laying their gifts of remembrance on the sidewalk. Others stopped to examine the shrine that had begun to form the day after news of Gotti’s death spread.
One note attached to the front window of the club read, “John Gotti, you were and always will be the true heart and soul of Ozone Park and Howard Beach. Thank you for everything.” A card attached to a bouquet of pink and white carnations said “The neighborhood always thought highly of you.”
Gotti’s death came one week after federal prosecutors leveled charges against 17 suspected members and associates of the Gambino crime family, including his brothers Richard and Peter, for their roles in an alleged shakedown of a longshoremen’s union and other crimes. Richard was released on $300,000 bail, but Peter was denied such an arrangement.
Gotti rose to the top of the Gambino crime family in the mid-1980s and into the public eye after orchestrating the murder of Paul Castellano, the previous boss of the Gambino crime family.
Unlike other mafia figures, Gotti basked in the media’s attention, often appearing on television and in newspapers clad in expensive suits, earning the nickname “Dapper Don” for his impeccable attire.
The public’s fascination with him grew as Gotti managed to avoid conviction in a series of racketeering trials. Escaping imprisonment in three straight cases from 1986 to 1990, he became known as “Teflon Don.”
It was not until 1992 that Gotti was put away for life after his trusted associate, Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, turned on the mob and testified against Gotti as a government witness in Brooklyn.
But despite Gotti’s stewardship of one of the nation’s largest organized crime families, most people who stopped to pay their respects at the social club Tuesday remembered the man as someone who performed charitable deeds for the community.
“You know he did bad stuff, but he also did good things,” said Lovita Surujbali of Ozone Park. “We never saw the bad stuff, only read about it, saw it on TV, but we saw the good stuff.”
Ron Liotti, also of Ozone Park, paid tribute to Gotti and said he also hoped to attend the former Gambino boss’s funeral.
“He will not be forgotten. He put a lot of people to work, he was generous, he looked out for everybody,” said Liotti. “He organized the Fourth of July barbecues with hot dogs and hamburgers, an ice cream truck and rides for the kids.”
Rudolph Giuliani, who prosecuted Gotti before he became mayor of New York City, put a stop to the parties once he took over at City Hall.
John Allie, of Ozone Park, said he once shook Gotti’s hand during a 101st Avenue block party.
“He was and still is my hero,” Allie said. “What he did for the community was so nice.”
But some residents said whatever good Gotti did for the community was overshadowed by his criminal behavior.
“A lot of people thought he was great. There were the fireworks, the parades, the barbecues,” said Aliki Mastro, of Ozone Park. “But it was always tainted by the underlying crimes.”
Mastro said she was saddened by Gotti’s death but also gripped by “an underlying sorrow for the people who died because of his doing.”
Outside Gotti’s home at 160-11 85th St. in Howard Beach, a woman walked with her husband and baby. She said she moved to the neighborhood two years ago. As her husband tried to dissuade her from talking, she said, “What do you think, I’m scared? He did a lot of bad things.”
Gotti, born in 1940, grew up in a poor family of 13 children in a tenement in the South Bronx. He is said to have developed some of his toughness fighting as a kid on the streets of the Bronx and East New York, Brooklyn, where he became involved with the local mafia, running errands for mobsters and indulging in heavy gambling.
Through his mafia work, he became closely involved with mob boss Carlo Gambino and underboss Neil Dellacroce. When Gambino died, Gotti was infuriated that the reins were passed to Castellano instead of Dellacroce, his close friend.
The rift between Gotti and Castellano grew until the Dapper Don, fearing a hit ordered by Castellano, delivered a pre-emptive strike, arranging the murder of his boss on Dec. 16, 1985, as Castellano emerged from Sparks steakhouse in Manhattan.
An impromptu memorial also began to form Tuesday afternoon outside the Gotti home in Howard Beach, where he lived with his wife Victoria and five children while running the Gambino crime family.
Mike Fauci, 14, of Ozone Park, and Brian Sacco, 14, of Howard Beach paid a visit to the house after school to drop off flowers they had bought with their own money for $15.
The boys said they were too young to remember Gotti’s famous block parties, but they had heard from others he had kept the neighborhood safe.
“We heard the bad things, but we don’t pay attention to them,” said Fauci.
In 1998, soon after Gotti began complaining to prison officials of throat problems, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. Doctors removed a malignant tumor from his throat later that year before declaring the cancer unstoppable last June.
Gotti is survived by his wife; his daughters, Victoria and Angela; and sons, John and Peter. His son Frank was killed at the age of 12 when his neighbor’s car struck him. The neighbor disappeared a few months later.
As of press time, funeral arrangements were pending. Gotti is to be buried at St. John’s Cemetery in Middle Village, where his brother, Frank, lies in the family mausoleum. The cemetery is also the final resting spot of other mobsters, including Gambino, Salvatore (Lucky) Luciano, Vito Genovese, and Carmine Galante.
Teflon Don Timeline
*Oct. 27, 1940: Born as the fifth child of 13 in the Bronx.
*June 3, 1974: Arrested for murder of James McBratney, who was believed to have killed a relative of Carlo Gambino.
*Aug. 8, 1975: Pleads guilty to attempted manslaughter in McBratney case. Ends up being paroled after two years in prison.
*March 18, 1980: Son, Frank, accidentally killed when neighbor's car strikes him. The neighbor, John Favara, reported missing a few months later.
*Sept. 11, 1984: Arrested for assaulting a refrigerator repairman, Romual Piecyk.
*March 28, 1985: Arrested on charges of federal racketeering.
*Dec. 16, 1985: Gambino crime family boss Paul Castellano is killed coming out of a Manhattan restaurant. Gotti soon takes charge of the family.
*1986: Acquitted in the assault trial after Piecyk claimed to forget everything while testifying.
*March 13, 1987: Acquitted of federal racketeering charges. Gotti suspected of witness tampering and jury foreman later convicted of accepting a $60,000 bribe offered to prevent a unanimous verdict.
* Jan. 24, 1989: Arrested on charges of ordering the shooting of a carpenters union official, John O'Connor.
*Dec. 9, 1990: Acquitted of charges in O'Connor case.
*Dec. 12, 1990: Arrested with top aide, Salvatore Gravano on racketeering and murder charges.
*March 2, 1992: Gravano begins testimony against Gotti as a government witness.
*April 2, 1192: Convicted of murder and racketeering charges.
*Sept, 1998: Malignant tumor removed from Gotti's throat after he is diagnosed with throat cancer.
*June 10, 2002: Dies of throat cancer.
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
